E Verify

New Hampshire's House is considering a bill that would prohibit the state from requiring the use of the federal E-Verify online database to check citizenship status. The House could vote on the bill this week that also bans supplying information from the drivers' license database to the E-Verify system. Bill supporters argue the federal system — while being used by employers to verify legal residency — is being turned into a national ID card system. They say keeping drivers' license information out of the federal system will protect New Hampshire residents' privacy.

New Hampshire's House is considering a bill that would prohibit the state from requiring the use of the federal E-Verify online database to check citizenship status. The House could vote on the bill this week that also bans supplying information from the drivers' license database to the E-Verify system. Bill supporters argue the federal system — while being used by employers to verify legal residency — is being turned into a national ID card system. They say keeping drivers' license information out of the federal system will protect New Hampshire residents' privacy.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is about to add more personal information to E-Verify, an immigration enforcement tool that is vulnerable to fake, stolen, or borrowed documents. The administration has said it will add driver’s license data from the state of Mississippi to E-Verify as early as June 8. The agency will test whether using the data can help better identify people working illegally in the United States. E-Verify checks workers’ information against Social Security and immigration records.

IT IS unfair to accuse Mitt Romney of "hiring cheap contractors without asking any questions" about immigration status ( "GOP demonization of illegals distorts real immigration picture," Editorial, Oct. 23). Romney has made clear numerous times that he told the gardening company to make sure not to hire illegal immigrants. What else is a homeowner supposed to do? Confront the workers and ask them about their documents, as the Globe did? Fire the company and do the work themselves, as our household did?

PROVIDENCE, - A civil rights group filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to block Governor Don Carcieri from enforcing an executive order requiring some private employers to electronically check the immigration status of new hires. The lawsuit, filed by the state branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenges an executive order that Carcieri signed in March to restrict illegal immigration. Carcieri's order requires state police and prison officials to identify illegal immigrants for possible deportation.

WASHINGTON - Top Democrats in the Senate are pressing a plan that would extend a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers but gradually phase it out over the course of next year. The proposal, by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana, would extend the $8,000 tax credit - which expires Nov. 30 - through March 31. Its value would drop by $2,000 for each of the subsequent three quarters of 2010. The plan, which could face a vote in the Senate this week, appears aimed at countering a far more generous $17...

IT IS unfair to accuse Mitt Romney of "hiring cheap contractors without asking any questions" about immigration status ( "GOP demonization of illegals distorts real immigration picture," Editorial, Oct. 23). Romney has made clear numerous times that he told the gardening company to make sure not to hire illegal immigrants. What else is a homeowner supposed to do? Confront the workers and ask them about their documents, as the Globe did? Fire the company and do the work themselves, as our household did?

PROVIDENCE - Private employers would be forced to verify the immigration status of new workers under a bill that House lawmakers passed yesterday to discourage illegal immigration. The bill, adopted 53 to 17, would force all companies in Rhode Island to use a federal database called E-Verify to determine whether new hires are in the country legally. Companies that refuse could face a fine up to $5,000. Supporters call the database a tool for keeping illegal immigrants out of the workforce, while immigration advocates say the database is prone to error and sometimes identifies US citizens and...

PATTERSON, Calif. - Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, something they say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community's traditional support for conservative candidates. The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers - who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s governor yesterday signed a tough new illegal immigration law that requires public schools to determine students’ immigration status and makes it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride. The bill also allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if stopped for any reason. Alabama employers also are now required to use a federal system called E-Verify to determine whether new workers are in the country legally.

PATTERSON, Calif. - Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, something they say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community's traditional support for conservative candidates. The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers - who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s governor yesterday signed a tough new illegal immigration law that requires public schools to determine students’ immigration status and makes it a crime to knowingly give an illegal immigrant a ride. The bill also allows police to arrest anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant if stopped for any reason. Alabama employers also are now required to use a federal system called E-Verify to determine whether new workers are in the country legally.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is about to add more personal information to E-Verify, an immigration enforcement tool that is vulnerable to fake, stolen, or borrowed documents. The administration has said it will add driver’s license data from the state of Mississippi to E-Verify as early as June 8. The agency will test whether using the data can help better identify people working illegally in the United States. E-Verify checks workers’ information against Social Security and immigration records.

PHOENIX — The Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law yesterday that penalizes businesses for hiring workers in the country illegally, buoying the hopes of supporters of state crackdowns on illegal immigration. Proponents predicted the ruling would lead to many other states passing laws that require employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check that workers aren’t illegal immigrants. And some said the ruling bodes well for the prospects of a much broader and more controversial immigration law in Arizona, known as SB1070, to be found constitutional.

PROVIDENCE — Governor Lincoln Chafee rescinded an executive order yesterday that cracked down on illegal immigration and said he had directed State Police to end a federal agreement under which troopers directly assist with immigration enforcement. The move fulfills one of Chafee’s campaign pledges and cancels one of the more contentious acts taken by his predecessor, Republican Donald Carcieri. The 2008 order, which sparked protests and heated debate, directed state departments and vendors to use the federal E-Verify database to check the...

FREMONT, Neb. — Angered by a recent influx of Hispanic workers attracted by jobs at local meatpacking plants, voters in the eastern Nebraska city of Fremont will decide today whether to ban hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants. The vote will be the culmination of a two-year fight that saw proponents collect enough signatures to put the question to a public vote. If the ordinance is approved, the community of 25,000 people could face a long and costly court battle.

FREMONT, Neb. — Angered by a recent influx of Hispanic workers attracted by jobs at local meatpacking plants, voters in the eastern Nebraska city of Fremont will decide today whether to ban hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants. The vote will be the culmination of a two-year fight that saw proponents collect enough signatures to put the question to a public vote. If the ordinance is approved, the community of 25,000 people could face a long and costly court battle.

WASHINGTON - Top Democrats in the Senate are pressing a plan that would extend a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers but gradually phase it out over the course of next year. The proposal, by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana, would extend the $8,000 tax credit - which expires Nov. 30 - through March 31. Its value would drop by $2,000 for each of the subsequent three quarters of 2010. The plan, which could face a vote in the Senate this week, appears aimed at countering a far more generous $17 billion bipartisan plan that...